The preparation of inorganic block-copolymers and pyrolysis thereof to obtain ceramics is described in co-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/265,990 and 11/488,421, filed Nov. 3, 2005 and Jul. 18, 2006, respectively, the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. For example, inorganic block copolymers may be synthesized via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). Such inorganic block copolymers can self-assemble into structures having nano-scale order. This nanoscale order can be preserved upon the ceramization by pyrolysis. Thus for example, a self-assembled film of inorganic block copolymer composed of polynorbornene and polynorbornene-decaborane can be converted to ordered mesoporous boron nitride when pyrolysis is conducted in an ammonia atmosphere.
The articles of Chan et al., Chem. Mater., 1992, 4, 885-894; Chan et al., Organometallics 2003, 22, 3796-3808; and Berenbaum et al., Adv. Mater. 2003, 15, 51-55 are believed to represent relevant prior art.